There are several well-known versions of gearshift mechanisms for motor vehicle transmissions. The most common type is the so-called H-gearshift configuration which is capable of controlling four forward speeds in passenger cars and four to sixteen forward speeds in commercial vehicles. However, there is a disadvantage in an H-gearshift in that it is sometimes difficult to find a certain gear. This is especially true in commercial vehicles which have a relatively large number of speeds where one or more gears can be easily skipped or missed.
There is also another known gearshift which is the so-called linear transmission which is shown and disclosed in my copending U.S. application, Ser. No. 348,038 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,736, issued on Mar. 26, 1985. In this latter-mentioned gearshift arrangement, the gears are selected by moving the gearshift lever along a straight path in one plane. In such a linear gearshift, it is sometimes difficult to find a certain speed, particularly in transmissions having many gears, since the individual gear positions are very close to each other. This makes the operation of the vehicle difficult since the driver, in many cases, has to look at the gearshift lever when he is shifting gears.